HSF Badge - Opinions

[Luft62]

Hi All,
I'm posting this HSF badge for a friend. I know absolutely nothing about KM badges. The only thing that concerned me about this one is the "mangled" swastika that still retains 100% of its finish.
Any opinions? A keeper?

[Thomas Durante]

Tim, perfectly good original early tombak Schwerin badge in mint condition. The badge may have had a slight mistrike causing a slight distortion of the swastika. The finish on it looks consistant with the rest of the gilding, so I wouldn't be to worried about it.

[Al P]

I say its an original.


Al

[DasEiserneKreuz]

Is the disfigured swaz just some kind of production flaw? I have never seen one like this before.

[Mike Kenny]

Hi,

I agree that the badge is an original - no problems on authenticity.

I don't believe the mangled swas is anything to do with the die or a mistrike - imo more like an attempt at de-nazification or it's taken a really bad knock.

From the images, I really question the amount of wear on the badge. It is definitely NOT mint (tombak is showing through on the highpoints of the ship and the ship appears more silver than the original dark grey finish) and from the scans I'm not seeing the fire-gilt effect (possibly only because of the image) - I have a suspicion there is a lot of basemetal exposed. From experience, worn fire-gilt on these badges is very close in tone to bare basemetal. Just my opinions from the images.

It's a nice worn honest example, and very desirable, don't get me wrong on that!

Regards
Mike K

[Luft62]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. My friend believes that the disfigured swastika is most likely an attempt at de-nazification like Mike suggests.

[mrg]

Have just clicked onto this thread, no doubts for me good early Tombak award.As for the swaz sometimes when they were de-nazified and found again by a dealer or collector there was an attempt to rebuild the swaz. not saying this is the case here but just a thought for you to check out. Best regards.

[David C]

That's a weird one!

Definitely an original Schwerin but that swaz looks well strange. It appears to be shifted to the left in relation to the eagles claws and mast

Cheers,
David.

[Don D.]

I had a Destroyer badge that had been de-nazified by filing the swaz flat. Someone had tried to reconstruct the swaz by routing the gaps for the arms. Looked just like this.
Don

[Ludwig]

-

Looks OK to me.